It is a retreat for all seasons. In Spring, wood anemones, bluebells and wild garlic make a spectacular carpet under the lime trees along the avenue on the approach to Ingleby Manor, and as you reach the house, masses of wild daffodils “nod their heads in sprightly dance”. In Summer, the herbaceous borders in the walled garden are at their best and create a perfect setting for games of croquet, barbeques or just relaxing in the sun.
Autumn is certainly full of mellow fruitfulness here as the orchard provides more apples than we, or the birds, can cope with, and we have seen deer in the garden actually eating the apples off the trees.
In Winter, brisk walks in pure, clear air and sparkling snow work up an appetite, and the mood for enjoying a good book by the fire in the freedom of your own home from home.
Children delight in the ponies (Prince and Pandora), miniature donkeys (Meghan and Ivor), ducks, waterhens, rabbits and hedgehogs wandering about in the traffic-free environment, and pheasants and wild roe deer come up to the house from the woods, where countless birds, including a hoopoe in May 1995, also hide.
Ingleby Beck winds its way through the grounds on its way from the hills to join the River Leven and fishermen can pit their wits against the wild brown trout.